The essays in this outlook collectively foster a broad approach to and definition of public investment, that is today more relevant than ever. Offering up a case for the elimination of bias against investment in European fiscal rules, this outlook is a welcome contribution to the European debate, aimed both at policy makers and general readers.

Trans-European networks (TENs) are a key theme in the process of integration for the EU as it enters the next millennium. The attainment of these networks stretches across many different areas of European policy and economy. The development of TENs is about establishing a series of infrastructure networks that complement the broad changes in the European economy facilitated by the development of the Single European Market. The book examines the development of TENs in the three key sectors: transport, energy and telecommunications, noting key themes and issues that need to be faced in their attainment. Attention is also paid to common problems in their realisation most notably the financing problems. The EU's strategy to develop these networks is essentially market-led yet, as the financing issues indicate, a consensus between the states in allowing commercial investment in infrastructure is proving elusive.

Through an integrative framework developed by the authors and drawn from international political economy and corporate strategy literature, this book examines the interface between public policy and corporate strategy in network development within the context of the European Union's trans-European network (TENs) initiative.

Examining the nature of telecommunication networks and the rationale for the developement of trans-European networks, the study explores the features networks need to exhibit if they are to complement the broad themes of Europe's industrial policy, and demonstrates the economic importance of advanced telecommunications to business. The final chapters of the volume offer an analysis of the technology associated with the three chosen priorities of the EU in the development of advanced telecommunication infrastructure: * the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) * the development of telematic networks * the development of broadband networks.

This book radically re-conceptualises the origins of the European Union as a trans- and supranational polity as it emerged between the Schuman Plan of May 1950 and the first enlargement of the European Communities at the start of 1973. Drawing upon social science theories and debates as well as recent historical research, Wolfram Kaiser and Morten Rasmussen in their introductory chapters discuss innovative ways of narrating the history of the EU as the emergence of a transnational political society and supranational political system. Building on these insights, eight chapters based on multilateral and multi-archival research follow each with case studies of transnational networks, public sphere and institutional cultures and policy-making which illustrate systematically related aspects of the early history of the EU. In the concluding chapter, leading political scientist Alex Warleigh-Lack demonstrates how greater interdisciplinary cooperation, especially between contemporary history and political studies, can significantly advance our knowledge of the EU as a complex polity. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Politics, European Studies and History.

This book questions the presupposition voiced by many historians and political scientists that political experiences in Europe continue to be interpreted in terms of national history, and that a European community of remembrance still does not exist. By tracing the evolution of specific memory cultures in two successor countries of the Fascist/Nazi regime (Italy and Germany) and the impact of structural changes upon them, the book investigates wider democratic processes, particularly concerning the conservation and transmission of values and the definition of identity on different levels. It argues that the creation of a transnational European memory culture does not necessarily imply the erasure of national and local forms of remembrance. It rather means the creation of a further supranational arena where diverging memories can find their expression and can be dealt with in a different way. Through the triangulation of agents of memory construction, constraints and opportunities and actual portrayals of the past, this volume explores the difficulties faced by a multinational entity like the EU in reaching some kind of consensus on such a sensitive subject as history.

Recoge : Foreword -- Facts and figures -- Location of the 20 priority projects -- Priority projects adopted in 1996 and priority projects proposed by the European Commission in 2001.